


An unexpected meeting

by ChristyLN



Category: 2P Hetalia - Fandom, Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-17
Updated: 2015-03-17
Packaged: 2018-03-18 08:08:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3562421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChristyLN/pseuds/ChristyLN
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Chibi Romano and Chibi 2p Italy fanficion. Chibi Romano finds a strange crystal that Spain got from one of England's ships, and before he know it, he is suddenly in a place he has never seen before. How did he get there? Why is there a boy who is almost identical to his little brother except from his personality? But the biggest question is; how is he going to get back home?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is not a shipping fanfic. And now when that is clear, I just hope that you'll enjoy the story

A warm afternoon sun stood high on the clear blue sky, and sent it’s sunbeams down over the Spanish capital, Madrid. The one of things the beams hit was a very large house, which was located in the outskirts of the city. In proportion to its size, the house was really clean and nice to look at. It wasn’t a surprise to anyone in the city that there normally were a lot of maids, gardeners and helpers running around to help taking care of practical things. Thought right now everything around the house was silent. The only living person in that big place was a little Italian boy who lied on his bed and stared into the wall. He had been lying like that for around an hour. First of all he was bored out of his mind because there was nothing to do in the house, but also because he was a bit worried. His Spanish caretaker had been gone for 5 days now, and he couldn’t shake that feeling off that maybe there was something wrong. It had happen before that, his caretaker had come home with big open and bleeding wounds, and was barely able to stand. Worst was it, when he was out fighting against that English man. Which was exactly what he was right now. A part of him wished that his caretaker didn’t have to go to war, but a bigger part of him knew that it was the only solution, if he wanted to protect his country. He made his hands into small fits, as he kept on staring into the light coloured wall in front of him.

“Stupid jerk…” he mumbled quietly and turned, so he now was lying with his face down in the pillow.

Suddenly he heard noises coming from the hallway, where the front door was located. He quickly sat up in the bed, and ran as quietly as he could over to his bedroom door, where he looked out. His caretaker always told him to be on guard and hide, if someone came into the house when he wasn’t home. Right now though the boy just wanted to check out what the noises were. He had tried before that he had hid himself because he thought he heard something, and when he caretaker finally found him there had been nothing there. He had turned completely red in the face and had started to yell, while the Spanish man just laughed warm-hearted at him. He wouldn’t let that happen again, so danger or not he had to check things out before doing anything else. Silent as a mouse he walked out in the hallway where he immediately got eye contact with the person in front of him. In the next moment, he found himself almost being squeezed to death from the hug he quickly was pulled into.

“You..are… strangling..me…bastardo,” he said while trying to escape from the pair of arm which were holding him tight.

“I’m just happy to see you, Romano!” A tired and achy Spain said with a smile on his lips.

He released the now pouting Lovino, who took a step back to get a better look at Spain. He looked like he hadn’t sleep in days and his clothes was extremely dirty. He had a couple of bleeding slits in his face, and his right arm looked like it had been dislocated and then later forced back in place. Lovino sighed lightly. It was bad, but it had been much worse so he couldn’t help being a little relieved. Not that he would ever tell Spain that.

“You are bleeding,” he simply said and pointed at Spain’s wounded face.

He took a hand to his face to feel the wounds, and smiled sadly by the sight of the dark red blood, there was now running down his hand. He quickly wiped off the blood in his clothe before looked back at Lovino.

“Don’t worry about it, it’s alright,” Spain said and smiled to him.

It wasn’t hard for Lovino to see that it wasn’t a happy smile, but more an attempt to make him less worried. Not that Lovino showed any sign of anxiety, but it looked like Spain could see through him anyway. On the other hand was it also easy for Lovino to see, that Spain was lying about being alright. Normally he would have been mad about being lied to, but it wasn’t hard to see that the Spanish man did not have the strength to deal with his yelling right now, so he behaved. He wouldn’t hurt him more than he already was, but that still didn’t stop him from scowling at his caretaker, as he walked past him into the living room. Lovino followed him quietly and watched as Spain took off his dirty and pretty damaged jacket and threw it in a corner, before he carefully took something out from his breast pocket. It turned out to be a shining, ball-shaped crystal. He put it down on a little wooden table, and Lovino moved a bit closer to get a better look at it. It was glowing in a way that Lovino couldn’t explain, and it was coloured green and pink with an invisible line stopping the two colours from flowing together. He was about to touch it, when Spain suddenly discovered what he was doing and rushed over to hold him back.

“Don’t touch it, maybe it’s dangerous!” He quickly said and lightly pushed Lovino away from the table.

“How can you not know if it’s dangerous, when you had it in your pocket!? And you just touched it!” Lovino said harshly, annoyed over being kept away from the shining thing.

“I wear gloves,” Spain answered with a smile and showed Lovino his gloved hand. “And I got it from one of the British ships, so I’m not sure what it does. I will have someone to come over and it a closer look one of the days in the following week. Please be careful around it, won’t you?” Big worried eyes met his own.

“Hmpf…fine…” He answered and looked away, pouting.

“Good boy” Spain said smiling and ruffled his dark brown hair.

“Don’t do that!” Lovino burst out and pushed him away, as his face became red.

Spain chuckled lightly and turned around, walking over to a door in the other side of the room.

“The boss will take a nap now, so please behave in the meantime,” he said and grabbed the door handle. “Oh and don’t worry, I’ll make dinner later,” he quickly added before Lovino could protest about it.

With those words, the Spanish man walked into his bedroom and closed the door behind him, leaving Lovino alone in the living room. He was about to walk back into his own bedroom to take a nap as well, when the shining crystal on the table caught his eye again. He snorted a bit. How dangerous could this little thing be? Spain was probably just being overdramatic as always. He took a step closer and carefully touched it with the tip of his finger. Nothing happened. He sighed a bit in relief and picked up the little crystal, so it lied nice and dainty in his palm. To think that Spain had been afraid of this thing. He chuckled quietly, as he slowly started to stroke this crystal with one of his fingers. Suddenly a bright coloured light came out all the way around it from that place where the pink and the green colour met each other. He let out a surprised gasp and was about to drop the crystal, but somehow managed to keep it from hitting the ground. He held it tight in between both his sweaty palms, as the light became stronger and stronger, and suddenly everything started to darken before his eyes. Lovino couldn’t think of anything else to do than just closing his eyes, and hope that it would all stop again. He hated his curiosity and wished that he never had touched the odd ball-sharped crystal. And just as that thought past through his mind, he lost consciousness.

 

When he woke up again, he found himself lying outside on a grass field. The air was a bit colder, so it quickly became clear for Lovino that he wasn’t in Spain’s house anymore. He looked around, but there was nothing but a couple of trees in sight. His heart began to beat very fast, and he could feel tears starting to form in the corner of his eyes. He didn’t like this. He didn’t like this at all. What was this place? How did he get here? He suddenly remembered the crystal and looked around for it, but it was nowhere to be found. As he stood up and dried his eyes, he did the only thing that he could think of. He started to walk, and hoped that he would find someone who could bring him back home. After walking in what felt like hours for Lovino, he suddenly spotted something ahead of him and quickly ran a little closer. The next moment he was almost about to pass out again. He couldn’t believe his own eyes. Sitting there, a few meters away from him, was a boy that really resembled someone he knew. Someone that he knew very well actually.

“Fratello…,” he whispered to himself, as he silently walked closer to get a better view of the other boy.

He was wearing a dress, but that was not a big surprise to Lovino given that Spain had put him in a dress as well after seeing his brother in one. His hair looked a bit darker than it was suppose to, but the little curl that stood out from the left side of his head left no doubt. This was definitely his little brother. Without thinking anymore about the situation, Lovino started to run over him, and threw his arms around the other boy from behind. He was so happy that he finally got to see some of his family again.


	2. Chapter 2

Luciano sat quietly in the grass and looked up on the clouds in the sky, lost in his own thoughts. Most of them were about how he could get away from the hellhole where he currently lived, and get to be his own independent country again. Suddenly he perceived a figure of, what he thought, was a child that was a few meters away from him. Luciano did not care much about it though. The only child he knew was Holy Rome, and he would never look for him. It was probably just a stupid human, who had wandered off. He could not see a point in interrupting his own thinking with something like that. That was until he suddenly heard running footsteps, and before he could do anything Luciano was restrained by a pair of arms, which were wrapped around him from behind. It happened so fast that he lost his balance and fell down on his face, with the unknown person on top of him. He quickly felt that unpleasant and disgusting feeling he always got, when people were touching him. He hardly pushed the person off him and crawled a meter back, before looking at the person in front of him, with a glowing anger in his eyes. It was first now he got to really look at the person who had attacked him. It was a boy and he looked like to be around his own age if not older. His eyes were brown and his hair almost had the same colour as his own, but what really caught Luciano’s attention, was the curl the boy had. It was almost uncomfortable how much it resembled his own curl. Actually when Luciano thought about it, everything about the boy resembled him. He took a step back with a suspicious expression on his face. He knew that there was something about this that wasn’t right.

 

When he ran over to hug his brother, he felt something that really shocked him. He was being pushed away. What was wrong? The Veneziano he knew would never reject a devoted gesture shown towards him and definitely not from his own brother. He released him and just looked silently, while the boy crawled back and turned to face him. The moment Lovino got to a full view of the person in front of him he could not help but holding a hand over his mouth. The boy was identical with his brother expect from his hair colour and his eyes. It was the eyes that frightened Lovino the most. First of all they was not brown like his brother’s, but more of a light violet colour and then there was the look in them. They were nothing like his brother’s gentle and innocent eyes, which always showed happiness when he look at the world there was around him. These eyes, that right now was staring intense into his own, were cold and indifferent, and they looked like they had seen things that no child should never dare as much as think about.

“Who the hell are you?” He asked and tried to sound tough, though his knees were shaking. He really hoped that the other one wouldn’t notice it.

The other one did not answer him. He kept on just standing there, while his glowing eyes scanned every part of Lovino’s body like he was some kind of unknown object that needed to be identified. Lovino took a step backwards, but he kept on looking stiff at the person in front of him that in some ways was identical with his brother, but on the other hand seemed to be nothing like him.

“Don’t ignore my question!” Lovino could feel the anger starting to boil inside him. Who did this person think he was? He crossed his arms and kept on starting at the other one, demanding an answer.

“You are a country like me,” the other one simply said, still looking at him with those cold scanning eyes. Lovino could not believe his own ears. This was his answer?

“Of course I am a country, bastardo!” He snarled at the other boy. The one thing that pissed him off the most was that the other boy sounded so calm about the whole thing.

“And you are Italian…” The boy said, and sounded more like he was talking to himself than to Lovino.

“Si, I am Italian, do you have a problem with that?” Lovino said and snorted. He did not understand why he even spend his time on this weirdo. But then again, he had to find out why he resembled his little brother so much. Lovino would not give up on getting the information he wanted to have.

“No, listen to my voice, idiota, I am Italian as well!” The boy said with a loud and clearly annoyed voice. The sudden change in his vocal pitch send a chilling down Lovino’s neck, but he tried to look like he was not affected at all. He really missed his Spanish caretaker, but most of all right now he missed his real brother.

 

As Luciano stood still and kept an eye on every movement the other one made, he could not help but wonder what this was all about. No matter how much he tried, he could not deny the most obvious fact. The other looked like him. A lot actually. But how could that be? Could he be the older brother that he only had heard about? No. This person was definitely not like he had got his brother descripted. But who could he be then? It was a clear fact to Luciano that this boy was a country. There was no doubt about that, but then how could he be Italian? All these thoughts went through Luciano’s head, as he looked at the boy opposite him. Normally he would not have left by now, not caring one bit, but there was something about the boy that fascinated him. He could not explain what it was though.

“What is your name?” He asked with a cold poker face. Maybe he was fascinated, but he would never show that to other people, and especially not to a person he just met.

“Why the hell would I tell you?!” The answer came immediately, and it was clearly to Luciano that the boy had not really thought about his question before he answered. He mentally rolled his eyes. To him it did not look like this person was rather bright.

“Just tell me your official name,” he said slowly, like he was talking to someone who was mental challenged. This situation was really starting to annoy him. It looked like the boy was considering if he should answer the question or not. A clever decision in Luciano’s head. Maybe this boy was not completely lost after all.

“Italy…Romano…” the boy finally said, still looking like he wasn’t sure if telling it was a good idea.

Luciano actually forgot to hold his poker face for a moment and just started at him with open mouth. That was the name of his brother, he was sure of that, but this boy could not be him. He neither looked or acted like he had been told his brother acted.

“Liar!” He yelled and growled slightly. How dared this person trying to trick him into believing that it was his brother?

Luciano’s sudden outburst seemed to surprise the other boy, because he took a few steps back and was about to lose his balance for a few seconds. When he finally got it back, he made his hands into small fits and looked just as angry as Luciano felt in this moment.

“It’s true! Why the hell would I lie about that to a stranger?!” The boy yelled and slowly started to get red in the head. Luciano could not help but snort, when he saw it.

“You are trying to imitate my brother, but guess what I am not falling for it!” Luciano growled and looked at him with burning eyes. Maybe he didn’t know his brother, but he knew that family was important and no one was going to mess with his. 

“I don’t even know your stupid brother! And I told you my name, now tell me yours!” The boy shouted back, still holding a distance to Luciano though.

“It’s Italy Veneziano, if you really want to know,” Luciano answered coldly and crossed his arms. If it wasn’t for the fact that he really sounded Italian Luciano would already have punched the boy in the face by now.

“I..I don’t believe you! How can you be Veneziano!?” It was clearly that the boy tried to sound tough again, but Luciano saw right through him. He was confused, maybe even more than Luciano himself, and there was also another feeling in his eyes. Was it sadness?

“Don’t you dare doubt what I’m saying! I’m a part of the future Italian empire. Born to rule and raised to fight!” Luciano with all the power in his voice that he could, while he quoted what his grandpa had taught him before he disappeared.

The other boy didn’t say anything at first, he simply starred at Luciano as if there was something seriously wrong with him. He glared back, happy that he finally had gotten him to shut his mouth. He could feel that his patience with this boy was all used up by now. He turned around and was about to walk away, when he from behind him heard the boy yelling again.

 

Lovino couldn’t believe the situation he found himself in. Opposite he was a boy who claimed to be his little brother. And if that wasn’t enough, he actually looked like him, but his personality was nothing like Feliciano’s. What was all this? Could it have something to do with the weird crystal thing that Spain had brought home? As he thought about this, he suddenly saw from the corner of his eye that the strange boy was about to leave.

“Wait!” He took a step forward as he called out to the other boy. Although he didn’t trust the person one bit, he would rather be with him than being all alone in a place he didn’t know.

“What is it now?” The boy looked over his shoulder at Lovino with a raised eyebrow.

“You are going to help me found out how to get home from here!” Lovino said, trying to make it sound like an order rather than a begging for help. He face was still completely red though.

“I’m not taking orders from you,” the boy answered with an ice cold voice and turned his head away.

“Wait!” Lovino took another step forward. “Wait…Veneziano…”.

He heard the other boy sigh before he turned towards him again. It was clearly that he was thinking about something, but his odd coloured eyes gave no clue about what it was. Lovino just stood there and waited. He had no idea what he should do, if the boy decided to leave him behind. It would probably just end with him following the boy in an attempt to find some help. But he didn’t know what kind of help he could get. Lovino could not explain why, but there was something about the place that didn’t feel right. It was not just that he didn’t know the place, but the whole atmosphere seemed different. 

“Find you can come along…and if you have to call me something say Luciano,” the boy said and turned around, before he started to walk in the opposite direction.

Lovino quickly ran up to Luciano and started to walk a few meters behind him. He wondered what had made him change his mind, but he decided not to think too much about it.

“Lovino…” He said quietly, looking down in the ground as he walked.

“Huh?” Luciano asked, though he neither stopped nor looked back at him.

“The name is Lovino,” Lovino answered and looked up at Luciano’s back. He wasn’t really sure why he chose to tell his human name, though it was probably because of the similarity between his brother and this Luciano. A person he still didn’t know if he should trust or fear.


	3. Chapter 3

As he started to walk with the boy behind him, he couldn’t but wonder, if he had made the right decision. He shook his head a bit. It was neither the time nor place to come up with another plan now. Luciano had to stick with what he had now. He was pulled out of his thoughts as the boy suddenly spoke up again. Was he telling his name? Luciano couldn’t see why he needed to know that. The only reason why he had told his own human name was that he just didn’t like being called Veneziano.

“I don’t care what it is,” he answered with an indifferent voice.

Being with this Lovino was something that he would rather go without. Most of all he felt like some kind of babysitter for this boy. He sighed silently. Luciano still hadn’t given up on finding out, why Lovino went under the same name as his brother, but first of all he had to focus on his plan. The plan was the only reason why he would ever allow Lovino to follow him like that. He heard a sneezing behind him and snorted annoyed. At first he had thought that Lovino actually had some guts, but it didn’t took long time for Luciano to figure out that it was all an act. He could read this boy like an open book. He was scared and probably missed his home a lot. It was feelings that Luciano knew existed, but he didn’t really understand them. Every time he got reminded of feelings like that, he always pushed them back in his mind. He would just figure out later what they really meant.

 

After they had been walking for around 10 minutes in completely silence, Lovino saw something in the horizon that looked like a house.

“Finally…” he mumbled to himself. His feet hurt, and because he was used to the warm weather there was at Spain’s house, he was freezing too.

As they got closer the house, Lovino could not help but letting out a little gasp. This was not a house but an enormous mansion. The mansion itself was sombre, but the big limpid windows that greeted them welcome made it a little less scary in Lovino’s head. All the way around the mansion there was build a dark wall, which ends met by a giant curved iron gate. This gate was right now standing wide open. They quickly walked through the gate, but when Lovino automatically went towards the big and adorned front door, he heard an angry whispering coming from beside him.

“Not that way, idiot! Follow me,” Luciano ordered and ran around a corner of the mansion.

“Wait, goddammit,” Lovino whispered as loud as he dared and was about to fall over his own legs, as he quickly ran after the other boy.

When he turned the corner, he saw Luciano, who was about to crawl inside the mansion through an open window. His heart throbbed fast as he ran over to the window as quiet as possible, and grabbed the frame to crawl after Luciano. All this ‘be careful not to be seen’ made him kinda nervous. Why couldn’t they just use the front door? Would the people inside this mansion hurt him, if they knew that he was with Luciano? He couldn’t stop these thoughts from running through his head, as he crawled over the window ledge and inside the mansion. Inside, he found himself standing in a dark hallway. A dark red rug adorned the floor, and it was like the bright daylight from outside couldn’t light up the room even if it wanted to. Lovino didn’t get more chances to check things out any further, because Luciano was already standing by one of the door in the hallway and waited impatient on him. He walked over to Luciano who opened the door to reveal what looked like a bedroom, but he couldn’t quite tell from where he stood. As he walked in after Luciano, he discovered that he was right. This couldn’t be anything but Luciano’s own bedroom. Like the hallway he had been in before, the room was a lot darker than it was supposed to with the window in the end of the room. Other than a bed, an old wooden closet, a very small wooden desk with a chair in front of it and a dusty mirror the room was completely empty. It didn’t look like Luciano really had anything of his own stuff in this place. As he started to look around in the room, he couldn’t help but shiver a bit, feeling a pair of cold eyes following his every movement. He walked over to the closet and looked uninterested at it for a few seconds, before he suddenly noticed something on the side of it.

“What the heck is that?” He asked and pointed at some long, thin and deep marks in the wood. It looked most of all like someone had carved in it, or the marks from some odd animal’s claws.

“That it none of your business!” Luciano yelled back, clearly angry with Lovino discovering the marks and that he even dared to point them out.   

Lovino was about to yell back, when Luciano suddenly punched the wall before turning his back to him, so he was facing the door. Lovino took a step back and watched as the other boy took a grab around the door handle.

“Where are you going?” Lovino asked. He really didn’t want to be alone in this unknown place.

“Food...” Luciano snarled. It wasn’t hard to see, that he was very close to yell at Lovino again or maybe even hurt him, but that he tried his best to control himself.

Before Lovino had the time to say anything else, Luciano had already opened the door and disappeared out in the dark hallway. He sighted a bit and took another look around in the small room, to find something to do, but he couldn’t find anything interesting. With nothing better to do, he just walked over to the bed. He could always to a nap, while waiting on the other one to get back. Or that was at least what he thought. As he carefully sat down on the pillow, he immediately felt something that wasn’t right. He reached in under the pillow to grab the unknown object, and his eyes went wide open when he saw what it was. It was a knife. He hold it with two fingers on it’s handle, and looked at it with a shocked expression. It wasn’t the knife itself that was shocking for him, it was more the question that kept on coming up in his head. Why was there a knife in here? And why was it under that boy’s pillow? Was this place really that dangerous, or did he just enjoy having the weapon close to him? Lovino couldn’t decide which one of those options he found most terrifying.

“What the fuck are you doing with that, don’t touch my stuff!” Lovino jumped a little over the sudden yelling behind him, and turned around to find a pissed off Luciano standing in the doorway. He looked even angrier than before.

“W-why do you have a knife in here?” Lovino asked with a voice there was a mix of confusion, defiance and a slightly bit of fear.

“It’s none..of your..damn...business!” Luciano yelled and breathed heavily because of the anger there was boiling inside him.

He quickly walked over and took the knife away from Lovino before putting it back under the pillow. Lovino couldn’t help but wonder why he put it there. Of course it was weird enough to have a knife in his room, but why not just putting it on the desk or something, if it really had to be in the room. Luciano looked at him for a few seconds before answering the question, Lovino never asked.

“It has to be a place, where it can’t be found,” he said with a dark voice, while staring Lovino right in the eyes.

He swallowed and looked away. Looked away from the eyes, there no matter what he did just looked right through him and saw his inner thoughts like it was the easiest thing in the world. The eyes there looked like they never had nor never would have any kindness and compassion in them. The eyes that really reminded him, how far he was away from his home, caretaker and most of all his little brother.

 

Luciano smirked a bit, as the other boy broke their eye contact. He wasn’t really trying to scare him that much, but it looked like this Lovino just became scared easily. Maybe he could use that to his own advantage. He shocked his head. No, right now he had to focus on the goal of his plan. If you can’t focus on that, then you have already lost your changes to succeed. He had been taught this for as long, as he could remember and knew that it worked. He needed to earn a bit of trust from the boy in front of him, if there were any changes for his plan should work. The only problem was that he didn’t really knew how to do that. He could fake his anger away, but he wasn’t sure it would be enough to convince the boy. What could he do? Talk about things? Was that what people did with someone they trusted? Luciano didn’t know, he had never really trusted anyone expect Holy Rome, but that was a thing he would never admit, and he wasn’t sure if it even could be called ‘real trust’. He sighted deeply and looked away from Lovino before sitting down on the floor. When he looked up again, he saw that Lovino was looking at him with confused glance, and Luciano could see that he was on guard. He made a gesture towards the little wooden chair that stood in front of the desk, and Lovino sat down carefully, looking suspicious the whole time as he did so.

“Where do you come from?” Luciano asked and hid every sign of anger or that he didn’t care at all for the answer. This was simply just a part of the plan and nothing else.

“Why would I tell you that?” Lovino asked and looked even suspicious at him than before.

“Because I’m asking you,” he answered and shrugged lightly while he mentally rolled his eyes.

“I’m ruled by Spain right now…” Lovino said quietly, like he was a bit embarrassed over it.

There it was again. Another thing that was the same as his brother. After what Luciano had heard, his brother was under rule by the Spanish empire at the moment. Was he lying? Luciano stared him right in the eyes and tried to read his thoughts. The boy’s eyes showed no sign of lying. He thought about Spain for a moment. His grandpa had only taught him one thing about that man. He was a dangerous person, who Luciano should avoid until he was stronger, and no matter what, he should never underestimate him. Could it really be the same person?

“How is he?” Luciano asked and was for the first time a bit interested in the answer.

“Well he is out a lot…and when he is home, he is just annoying and smiles all the time. Always wants to make me clean and do other stupid things like that,” Lovino pouted and seemed to have forgotten to be on guard.

Luciano couldn’t believe what he heard. This definitely did not sound like the description he had gotten of Spain. Could it be another person? Was his country split, as it was the case for himself and his brother? No, his grandpa had not said anything that would indicate that a such thing could be an opportunity. Luciano was in deep thoughts. So much that he almost didn’t register that Lovino was snapping his fingers in front of his face.

“Are you even listening, jerk?” He said and crossed his arms, clearly angry about being ignored.

“Si si of course”. Luciano shock his head a bit and focused on the boy opposite him.

“Now tell me why you look like and even have the same official name as my brother,” Lovino demanded. 

“What is it that you want me to tell you? I was born with my look and my title, and I have never met your brother,” Luciano said with a raised eyebrow. What kind of an idiotic question was that? “What is your brother like then?” He asked Lovino. He could always use some new information about other countries.

“He can be pretty annoying from time to time, but he is always kind and happy and tries to help where he can,” Lovino smiled a bit over the memory of his little brother before he suddenly remembered Luciano, who sat silently and looked at him. “You are nothing like him,” he snorted.

“I see…” Luciano said slowly. “He sounds like a good brother, I guess,” he continued while he on the inside was about to throw up over his own words and Lovino’s description.

In Luciano’s ears, Lovino’s brother sounded like nothing but a mere weakling. Maybe even more than Lovino himself, but of course he didn’t know anything about that. He was sure that he would look down on the boy, if he ever met him. Which he hoped that he never did. He would probably end up having to babysit another one like Lovino. Just the thought of that was enough to gross him out.

“Si, he is,” Lovino said and lowered his head, looking a bit sad. Luciano guessed that it was probably because they were talking his brother.

Without a word, Luciano stood up. He was sick and tired of conversation and couldn’t see the point in continuing it. Patience was the last thing he had, and even though he knew that he had to work on that, he decided that that time wasn’t now. Lovino’s eyes followed him, as he started to look out in the empty air, lost in his thoughts.

“What are you doi-..?” Lovino started, but before he could finish the question, Luciano had already walked past him and started to look around in the desk drawers, while he quietly cursed in Italian.

“What the heck is wrong!?” Lovino said a bit louder and tried to catch Luciano’s attention.

“I suddenly remembered my medallion… I think I might have lost it. It’s the only thing I have from my grandpa, it means a lot to me,” Luciano quickly explained while his searching in the drawers became more intense. “Can’t you look out in the kitchen? Maybe I forgot it there”. He looked up at Lovino.

“W-well you are the one who lost it, so I can’t see why I should help” Lovino said and crossed his arms, trying to play tough again, but Luciano could easily see the insecurity in his eyes.

“Because there would probably be more chances to find, if we were two who looked for it,” Luciano said and continued to look at him with as much innocence in his eyes as he could.

“Fine…” Lovino sighed as he finally gave in and stood up before he walked over to the door. “Where is that damn kitchen?” He asked.

“Down the hallway and to the left,” Luciano explained and tried to show it with his fingers.

Lovino nodded and opened the door, but stood still for a few seconds and looked out in the dark hallway. He swallowed and then left the room, closing the door behind him. Luciano looked up as the door got closed and a smirk formed on his lips. He couldn’t believe that Lovino actually felt for his trick. It seemed like his attempt on earning the other one’s trust had work a little. He let out a laugh. This would be easier, than he expected.      


	4. Chapter 4

Antonio woke up from his nap feeling, not exactly well-rested, but at least a bit better than before. He slowly sat up in his bed and looked around in the big bright-coloured bedroom. Everything was illuminated by the strong sunbeams that came in from the window, so it wasn’t hard for him to figure out that it probably was mid-afternoon. He carefully checked his arm, which had been dislocated before moving on to the slits in his face. It still hurt a bit, but it was still a lot better than before. He scratched his neck and listened closely to the sounds. Nothing else expect from some chirping birds from outside could be heard. He couldn’t help but feel that there was something that wasn’t right, though he couldn’t put a finger on what it was. He got up and quickly changed clothes before going to the bathroom. He had been too tired when he got home to clean the wounds probably, so he decided that that was a thing he needed to do before checking on Romano. Especially because he didn’t want to see the boy being so worried. Romano was stubborn, messy and could be quite of a handful from time to time, but Antonio knew that he really was a good and caring boy; he just has some problem showing it sometimes. He couldn’t help but chuckle a bit over that thought before he carefully started to pour water over the slits, cleaning them the best he could. When that was done, he walked back to his bedroom and looked around before listening again. He couldn’t hear the sound of Romano anywhere, but he didn’t really find it strange. The boy had probably just fallen asleep. He slowly opened the door to the living room as soundless as possible, not wanting to wake up Romano if he was lying in there somewhere. After a quick look around, he could ascertain that the boy was not anywhere to be found in the living room. He walked in and suddenly spotted the jacket, which was lying on the floor. For a few seconds he just stared at it, before he finally went over to pick it up and swung it over his shoulders. He couldn’t explain why he needed to wear it right now. Maybe it was because of the strange feeling that he couldn’t really shake off, though he didn’t know why he had it. He spent the next couple of minutes looking for Romano all around the house. The more empty rooms he entered, the more he started to get really nervous. Romano knew that he shouldn’t just wander off, Antonio had told him that over and over again. He check out in the big garden and the tomato fields just to be sure, but there still was not any sign of the Italian boy. Antonio’s heart pounded faster and faster as he ran back into the house to check again. Sure Romano had probably been a bit mad over not being able to play with the crystal thing, but he wouldn’t have run away from him because of that little thing, right? Wait a moment… Antonio gasped when he suddenly realised something. The crystal. He quickly ran to the living room and, as he had thought, it was not on the table anymore, but it was instead lying on the floor. It was not broken or anything, it was just lying there slightly glowing like before. By this point, there was no doubt in Antonio’s mind. Romano, stubborn as he was, had tried to check the crystal out while he had been asleep, and something had happen to him because of it. He put on some gloves and carefully picked up the crystal before putting it in his pocket. As much as he hated to admit it, there was only one person who could help him getting Romano back home again.

 

After hours of traveling, he finally reached his destination. Standing in front of the large wooden door, he couldn’t help but asking himself the same question he had been wondering about the whole way over there. Was this really a good idea? Yes, there was no other way. If he had been able to bring Romano back himself he would have done it, but he didn’t have the slightest idea about how to do it. He sighed before knocking harshly on the door. It didn’t take long before the door was opened, so Antonio now was standing face to face with the man inside the house.

“Good evening, England” he said with a tired voice.

The Brit in the doorway just stared at him for a moment; obviously, he had not expected to see Antonio standing on his doorstep like that. Not that Antonio could blame him. He couldn’t even imagine suddenly finding one of his enemies coming to his house all alone, unarmed as well. Because that was exactly what they were. Enemies. However, right now he had to bite back his pride. The Brit knew more about magical stuff than anybody else Antonio knew. And even though it pained him to ask this man for help, he knew that he had to. When England laid his eyes on him, he immediately grab the sword that was hanging by his side, and pointed it at Antonio.

“How the bloody hell did you get passed my guards!?” He growled, and stared at the Spaniard like he was some kind of ghost.

“I haven’t brought the armada. As you can see I’m not even armed,” he answered and slowly lifted his arms, so that England could see he was telling the truth. He knew that it was stupid that he hadn’t brought any weapons, but he figured that there would be a bigger chance that the Brit would help him if he didn’t. “And it’s pretty easy to sneak into your land, when you are all alone,” he continued while trying to hold a calm voice.    

“I see,” England snorted not lowering his weapon though. “But why would you come here all by yourself then?” A smirk came on his pale face. “Could it be that you finally have come to surrender to me?”

“Never!” Antonio was beginning to lose his patience. The longer they just stood there doing nothing, the longer Romano would be gone. He could not bear the thought of that. “Listen, I need your help it is really really important,” he explained while looking his enemy right in the eyes.

“My help?” England stared incredulously at him. “And what make you think that I’ll ever help you after what you have done?! We are enemies if you should have forgot it!” He yelled. 

“Can’t you forget about that stupid war for a second, this is even more important than that! Let me into your house and I’ll explain it,” Antonio said and took a tiny step towards the Brit. “I have something that belongs to you,” he continued before England got the time to start yelling again.

“What could you possibly have that belongs to me?” England asked with a raised eyebrow, looking suspiciously at him.

“Let me in and I’ll show you,” Antonio answered and crossed his arms, waiting for the other to make his decision.

He had to seem a bit tough in this situation, but the truth was that he was very nervous for the Brit’s answer. If he refused to help, Antonio would have no idea about what to do then. I hoped that he would not have to try to figure it out by himself.

“Get in quickly,” England finally said and stepped aside so Antonio could enter.

After he got in, England closed the door behind him and led the Spaniard into his living room. He followed silently and looked around as he did so. The place was almost exactly as he had expected it to be. The house itself was clean and really in good repair, but everywhere he spotted something old and antique that England probably had kept because it reminded him about certain things or events in his past. However, of course Antonio could not be sure if that even was the case at all. He shook his head lightly. Now was not the time to think about things like that. He entered the living room a few seconds after the Brit, which gave him enough time to sit down in a leather couch, quietly looking at the Spaniard. Antonio kept on standing and stared down at England for a moment, before he slowly took out the glowing crystal and carefully hold it so it was fully visible to him. The Brit stared at it with open mouth, before quickly getting out of the couch to once again take a hold around the sword by his side.

“How did you get your hands on that!?” He growled, demanding an answer.

“It was on one of the ships that got taken over by my men,” Antonio explained calmly. “And as you know; the finder is the keeper”. That was an immovable fact to both England and himself. The rules on the sea was clear and firm.

England nodded unwillingly. “And let me guess, you want something for it, don’t you?” His eyes were burning as he spoke. “Name your price”.

“You got it wrong again,” Antonio answered and placed the weird crystal on the table between him and England. “As I said before, I only need your help,” he continued.

“I’m listening…” England said, and crossed his arms over his chest.

“The situation is that my territory, Romano, is gone and I think it has something to do with that weird thing there,” the Spaniard explained, his glare was as glued to the crystal on the table in front of him.

“Did you let a child play with it!?” England’s outburst was sudden, but not unexpected to Antonio.

“Of course I didn’t!” He yelled back. “I told him not to touch it, but the crystal had been moved when I woke up…” he mumbled embarrassed, feeling like a pretty bad guardian.

The Brit snorted, hearing Antonio’s mumbling, but his expression quickly turned serious again. This only made Antonio’s heart hurt even more. After seeing England’s face like that, he started to imagine all kind of things that could had happen to Romano, each one more frightening than the previous.

“So let me get this straight…” England started with a raised eyebrow. “If I help you getting your underling back, I get the crystal, correct?” He tilted his head a bit and looked at the Spaniard.

Antonio nodded slowly. “Yes you get it back just…please”. He really didn’t like begging his enemy for help, but this situation was different from any other he had ever been in. He had to keep on remembering that.

“I guess it can’t be different then…” England sighted and walked over to stand beside Antonio in front of the crystal. “You have to follow my orders, understood? If anything goes wrong because you refuse to do what I say, there no chance of getting the child back!” He looked at the other man with a dead serious face.

“I understand,” Antonio nodded again, waiting for the Brit to actually do something.

“Take off your gloves and place your hands on the crystal when I have counted to three,” England said and took off his own gloves. Antonio quickly did the same, throwing them down on the floor.

“One…two…three!”

Both of them placed their hands on the glowing ball on the same time and coloured light quickly came out from it, shinning a million times brighter than the crystal itself. Antonio let out a shocked gasp and looked over at England, who didn’t seem affected. It could seem like he had tried it many times before. The Spaniard closed his eyes tight, waiting for the light to go away.

 

When he opened them again, he was standing on a grass field in a place he had never seen before. He looked to his left and found England walking around, looking at the place they had come to.

“Where are we?!?” He asked in shock and ran over to England. There was something about the place that didn’t feel right. He could not explain why, but he really didn’t feel good at all being there.

“Calm down!” England answered in an angry tone before sighing. “I guess I have to tell you this now since we have come so far…” He turned and looked Antonio right in the eyes. “We have come to another world”.

“W-what do you mean?” The Brit most have hit his head or something. There was no way such a thing as ‘another world’ could exist.

“I mean what I’m saying, just listen up! I found out about this a couple of decades ago. There is another world apart of our own, the different being that most things are opposite here. With that I’m not meaning literally ‘everything’, it’s mostly just the peoples personalities. We exist here as well – or our ‘counterparts’ does, but they are not like us. Not at all. A friend in our world is an enemy in this world, do you understand what I’m saying?” He asked the confused Spaniard in front of him.          

Antonio had no idea how to response to that. Could it be true? Could all this really be real? As he looked around again, he got the same feeling that he did before. No matter what something wasdefinitely different about this place. Opposite world or not. However that would of course explain why England had been so serious about this. Could this place really be as dangerous as he made it sound? And if it actually was that dangerous that meant that…

“Romano is here all alone,” he whispered to himself before having to hold his head with both of his hands, unable to believe what he had done.

“He is, and that’s why we need to find him…” England started and looked over the grass field and out in the distance. “..Before someone else does it,” he finished.


	5. Chapter 5

It took Lovino several minutes to just find his way to the kitchen. The mansion was big and extremely confusingto the Italian, since he had never been there before.

“’Down the hallway and to the left’ tsh as if it was that easy,” he mumbled annoyed to himself, as he repeated Luciano’s words. It had sounded so simple to find that kitchen, but to him this place was like a never-ending labyrinth.   

As he walked through it, he couldn’t help but notice another thing about that odd place. It was unnaturally lifeless. For every corner he turned without meeting anybody, it felt more and more like he was trapped in some kind of haunted house. Of course he was used to being alone in Spain’s house, but that was a different matter. Spain’s house was light, open and completely comfortable to be in. The whole aura of this place was just…threatening, in some way that the small Italian couldn’t explain. He couldn’t really figure out what was worst. Being all alone and maybe not being able to find the way back to Luciano’s room again. Or actually meeting somebody else. He shook his head and continued his searching. Though it didn’t take long before he was about to give up on finding the room, he was looking for. He considered if he should just turn around and try to follow his own path back to Luciano’s room as much as it was possible. The thought of that was immediately forgotten though, when he seconds later suddenly found himself standing in the opening leading to his destination. The kitchen. He walked inside with slow, careful steps, trying his hardest not to make any sound at all. A sudden noise of someone clearing their throat behind him, made him almost jump out of his skin. Someone else was in that room together with him.

“What are you doing in here?” A cold female voice asked.

Lovino quickly turned around and stood now face to face with a woman, he had never seen before. The woman was tall and slender with long blond hair falling softly down over her shoulders. She was wearing an elegant pink dress, which matched perfectly with her extremely feminine aura. Lovino’s eyes met her dark, almost completely black ones and discovered something in her features that didn’t fit together with the rest of her innocent and girly look. Something sinister. He was left with no doubt that – despite her appearance – this woman was dangerous.

“I…” He started, not knowing what was best to answer.

He couldn’t tell the truth that was for sure. After all, he knew that he wasn’t suppose to be in the mansion, and if he told that Luciano had asked him to go to the kitchen, he could get him in trouble as well. Not that it really meant anything to Lovino, if the other boy got in trouble, but when it came down to it, he had in some way saved him. Lovino knew that he couldn’t just ignore that fact, even though the thought of that wasn’t very welcome in his head. He wanted to ask if the woman knew who he was, since it had sounded a lot like that, but he didn’t dare to do it. All he really wanted was to get out of that kitchen as fast as possible.

“If you are here to steal food again, you can forget about it,” she said with the same cold voice, she had used before. Her glance flickered over at the drawer for a moment before meeting his eyes again. “And don’t even think about taking one more. I don’t care if you kill yourself with the one, I know you already have, but if more disappear, Roland is going to get told…do you understand?” Her tone had at this point changed from cold to distinctly threatening.

It took a few long seconds before Lovino understood what she was talking about. The knife in Luciano’s room. It suddenly started to make sense, why she was saying those things to him. She thought that he was Luciano.

“I am not…” He started, but was again cut off by her much louder voice.

“Don’t lie to me!” She hissed, before it suddenly seemed like she had noticed something, causing her to raise an eyebrow. “What is wrong with your eyes?” She asked suspiciously.

When hearing the sudden change in her tone, Lovino saw that as an opportunity to finally get out of there.

“I have to go,” he quickly mumbled, after which he turned around and ran out of the kitchen before she had the change to say or do anything more.

 

He didn’t stop running before he reached the hallway were Luciano’s room was located. After using a couple of seconds on catching his breath, while listening closely to make sure that no one was following him, he finally walked over and opened the door. Luciano himself sat on the bed, and his eyes followed Lovino as he quickly got inside and closed the door behind him.

“Did you found it?” Luciano asked, his eyes widened a bit as he did so.

Lovino shook his head and slowly walked over to sit down on the wooden chair. When seeing that, Luciano’s glance moved from him and down to the floor, as he hung his head looking sad. It looked sincere to Lovino, though there was something in the back of his mind telling him to not trust the other’s expression. He shook that thought out of his head though. Being the only one he actually could talk to in that place, Lovino slowly started to trust the other Italian more and more.

“But I met someone,” Lovino added, thinking that it would be best to tell the other about it.

“Who?” Luciano asked, as he raised his head and looked at Lovino.

The sadness from before was gone from his expression, and it had been replaced by a raised eyebrow. Lovino could have sworn that he for a second saw an evil grin on the other’s face, but when he blinked and looked again, it was gone. He sighed. It was probably just his imagination. Or at least he hoped so.

“Some weird, blond haired signora,” Lovino answered and crossed his arms. “For some reason she thought I was you,” he added with a shrug.

 

When hearing that Luciano suddenly had a hard time stopping himself from smirking self-satisfied. He couldn’t ruin it for himself now. Not when he was this close. Instead, he put up an annoyed expression and sighed, as he looked back at the other Italian.

“That doesn’t surprise me…” He said, rolling his eyes.

“Who is she?” Lovino asked while tilting his head.

Luciano hesitated a bit, wondering if it was a good idea to just tell him, what he wanted to know. Though after a few seconds he came to the conclusion that it probably was best to tell the other, what he knew. After all his plan wouldn’t work if Lovino didn’t know about anything.

“Her name is Erszebet, but her official name is Hungary--…”

“Wait a moment,” Lovino suddenly said, cutting him off. Luciano glared at him while growling silently. He hated when he was interrupted.

“What is it!?” He asked with a cold, clearly annoyed voice.

“Spa--…someone I know has mentioned Hungary before and that wasn’t her name, I’m sure,” Lovino said firmly, though Luciano could feel that something in the boy’s mind didn’t agree with the ‘I’m sure’ part. He just rolled his eyes.

“Then that person lied to you,” he continued with the same annoyed tone as before. Contrary to Lovino, he knew that he was right. “The best thing is always to just keep away from her…” He said to get back to the actual topic. “…Not that that is very hard. She only cares about herself after all”. For every word he spoke, Luciano’s voice became colder and more just a mumbling to himself.

“You are mumbling, idiot.” He was pulled out of his own thoughts and back to reality, as Lovino suddenly spoke up.

“There is not really anything more to say about her,” Luciano said to end the topic, ignoring Lovino’s outburst from before.

“And who is ‘Roland’?” Lovino asked after a few moments.

Luciano, who had been looking out of the small window in the end of the room, enjoying the silence, stiffened before slowly turning his head to look the other boy right in the eyes.

“Where have you heard that name?” He asked with a voice so quiet that it was almost a whisper.

“The signora mentioned it,” Lovino said with little a shrug while fixing his sleeve.

Luciano just sat there without answering, looking out into the air and almost forgetting the other’s presence. However, he suddenly remembered, what he had told himself just a couple of minutes ago. He sighed deeply and closed his eyes for a second before starting to talk.

“Roland is the one who owns this…place,“ he had to bite back his tongue to not call it ´hellhole´ or something else with the same meaning. “He is officially known as Austria.” At this point Lovino opened his mouth again, but closed it, letting Luciano speak without being interrupted. The small Italian’s glance once again found the window, as he continued. “He is mostly just sitting by his piano or ordering Erszebet around…” He stopped again and looked back at Lovino. “Just try to keep away from him as well…” Luciano warned. His eyes were burning with hatred, though he tried his best to not to show it. “…even though that might be harder,” he finally mumbled, not sure if Lovino could hear him or not. He didn’t really care.

 

Lovino swallowed nervously, but quickly tried to hide it. If he had wanted to leave before, it had been nothing compared to now. His young heart started to slowly beat faster and faster, and his mind was focusing on so many things that he completely forgot to hide his slight shivers. However, it didn’t take many seconds before his fear turned and came out as frustration instead.

“What are we even doing here?! This place is mad!” Lovino burst out.

“I had to go back here. And you were going to follow me no matter what, so I figured I just as well could lead you here instead,” Luciano answered with a shrug, not really paying any attention to the fact the other had raised his voice quite a bit.

Lovino froze for a second. How could Luciano know that it had been his plan to follow him no matter what? He once again got the unpleasant feeling of being looked right through. This made him shut his mouth and turn his head, so he was now looking at one of the dusty corners of the room. Though it didn’t take long before he, from the corner of his eye, saw a sudden movement. The Italian lifted his head, and his glance fell on Luciano, who had gone up from the bed and quietly walked over to the full-body mirror opposite the door. Their eyes met for a split second, before the light violet ones quickly went back to look at the mirror. Had the other boy been observing him, while he had been looking away? Lovino shook his head a bit. This place was really starting to affect his mind.

“I have some things I need to do,” Luciano said, as he turned his back to the mirror. Lovino opened his mouth to ask what was going on, but the other boy cut him off before he got the change to do so. “Just. Stay. Here.” He continued in an ice cold, warning voice that made Lovino stiffened and simply just nod a couple of times.

 

Luciano stared at the other for a few long seconds after falling silent, trying to make sure that the boy had understood his order. When he was convinced that he had, Luciano finally took a grab around the door handle and was out in the hallway a second later. He closed the door behind him and started to walk with slow, normal steps, not wanting to seem suspicious if the other Italian suddenly came out looking for him for some unknown reason. When he thought he was far enough away from the bedroom, he started to run, although trying to be as quiet as possible while doing so. After turning around a few corners, he reached his destination. A small wooden door that let outside the large mansion. He never really used that entrance though, because Roland’s two giant dogs tended to spend their day on the grass area just on the other side the door. However, Luciano knew that Roland was out almost the entire day, and that he had brought the dogs with him. The Italian shouldn’t have anything to do with those creatures that was for sure. He checked over his shoulder one last time, before quietly opening the door and once again steeping outside. The cold wind hit his face, but he didn’t care about that at all. As he started to walk away from mansion, he suddenly felt a weird feeling, as it quickly rushed through his body. Even though he had been away from the place countless of times, he had never felt as he did at that exact moment. As he after a few minutes started to run, there was only one thought that kept on going through his mind. He had done it. He had finally done it. He had found a way to, hopefully, escape from that hellhole once and for all. With Lovino placed in the mansion, it would buy him enough time to get over the border of his own country. From the first time he had laid his eyes on the other Italian and noticed the similarity between the two of them, he had known that he probably would be able to use that to his own advantage. He had sent Lovino to the kitchen with the hope that he would meet Erszebet, so that Luciano could get confirmed if his plan would work or not. When the other then returned and told that the Hungarian had thought they were the same person, Luciano knew that the plan would be a success. Roland would first be back in the evening, and there was a change that he wouldn’t even check on him at all – depending his mood when he returned to the mansion. Luciano just needed to get over the Italian border. When he was there, he could gather an army to make sure that he wasn’t going to be taken away again.

He stopped for a second to catch his breath, and a thought came to his mind. A wondering thought about what would happen to Lovino when Roland found out that he wasn’t him. Luciano knew that there was no way the Austrian would fall for his little trick. However, he just simply shrugged. He didn’t really care at all about what would happen to him. Even though the other looked like him, they wasn’t family. Which meant that Luciano couldn’t see the point in caring about him. In addition, Luciano had helped him after all...so it was just fair that Lovino paid his debt. With a smirk on his face, he started running again, happy that his speed was quite high compared to his size and age. Nothing was going to stop him now. Nothing was going to stand in his way. Or that was at least what he thought...    


	6. Chapter 6

Antonio was walking a few meters behind the Brit, looking around, really trying to get to know that odd place he had ended up in. Mostly to try to figure out if it really was as dangerous, as England had made it sound like. Even though everything looked the same way as it did back in – what apparently was – his own world, a nagging feeling kept on coming to him, as the two walked there in silence. It was the same feeling, as the one he had felt when they had just arrived to the place. Even though he still doubted all that talk about ‘another wold’, something about the whole atmosphere was definitely different, however he didn’t know any words that could describe exactly what he meant be that. He actually doubted that such words even existed.

He was about to ask, if England even knew where they were going, when the Brit suddenly stopped and swung out his arm, as to tell Antonio to stop as well. The Spaniard did so, and without a word, he quickly took a grab around the silver sword hanging by his side, while on the same time trying to get a glimpse of whatever it was England had spotted.

“What is wro—“ He started, but he was cut off by England annoyingly hushing at him.

He took a few steps forward, so he now was standing side by side with the other man. It was here that he saw it. A silhouette in the distance that was quickly coming towards them. At first, Antonio couldn’t make out what it was, but after a few seconds it become clear to him that it was a person. A child to be more precisely. When he realised this, he let go of the weapon, he had been holding on to before. England, on the other hand, didn’t. After about a minute or so the figure was now so close that they could get a proper look at the child’s face. The sight however made Antonio gasp. The child had stopped a few meters away from them. It was clear that he hadn’t noticed the two nations before now. The child’s eyes fell on the weapon in England’s hand, before quickly going back to look at the adult’s faces. It wasn’t hard for Antonio to understand that it was the weapon which did so that the child didn’t dare to pass them. However, the Spaniard didn’t think about that at that every moment. He just stared at the child’s face, and even got eye contact with him for a few seconds, before the child broke it. That child looked like Romano. He was actually almost identical with him except for the fact that the eye- and hair colour was wrong. Although when his glance fell on the curl, he realised that his first impulse had been wrong. It was true that he looked like Romano, but when he thought about it, the child actually looked more like Veneziano. After looking at him for a few more seconds, Antonio discovered something about the child that made him completely different form both the Italian brothers. His aura had a darkness to it, which he had never before seen a child have. This shocked the Spaniard a bit. Something about this child definitely wasn’t…right. He actually started to consider if maybe England had been right about all that ‘other world’ stuff.

While Antonio was thinking about all this, England took a step towards the child who quickly backed a bit, not breaking the eye contact with the Brit for even a second though. A quiet growl escaped from his mouth as he did so.

“I assume this is not the child you are looking for,” England said, though not looking back at Antonio as he spoke. It seemed like he was determent to not let the child out of his sight for even the shortest among of time.

“No that is not him,” he answered, and looked at the child as well.

“That was what I thought,” England said with a cold voice, as he lifted the sword, so it was now pointing directly at the child. “Who are you?” He asked the small boy.

Antonio was about to yell at him to stop pointing the weapon towards a child, but the boy cut him off before he got the chance to do so.

“One information for another” The child said, as he just glared back at England. It was clear that the shock he had got from meeting the two adults was gone now, and there is not a single sight of fear to find in his eyes. Just simple annoyance and arrogance.

Antonio was shocked from hearing this coming from a child so young. His own Romano would probably have refused to answer as well, but he was sure that the Italian’s answer would have been more…childlike. It seemed like this boy was much more mature than he should be, compared to his size.

“Very well…” England’s irritation was easy to spot behind his words. “I’m the United Kingdom of Great Britain. Human name: Arthur Kirkland,” he continued. When he finished, the child nodded in the direction of Antonio. It was clear that he wasn’t satisfied yet.

“My name is Antonio Fernandez Carriedo, and I’m the Kingdom of Spain,” Antonio said and sent the boy a small smile. Which wasn’t returned.

“Italy Veneziano…” The boy said after sighing deeply, probably knowing that he couldn’t keep that information to himself anymore.  “…Human name: Luciano Vargas”.

 Antonio’s confusing was now bigger than ever. This boy apparently shared the same official name as the Italy he knew from back home, but the human name was different. Was all this really true after all?

 “Same official name…” England mumbled, as if he had just read the Spaniard’s thoughts. “He is the counterpart to the Italy from our world,” he informed, now talking a bit louder as to actually let Antonio know what was going through his mind. “The Italy from our world…He is guarded by Austria, if I’m not mistaking, right?”.

When England mentioned Austria, a slight shiver ran through the young boy’s body. Antonio noticed this and became for a second even more worried about the child, than he had already been from seeing him out here all on his own. Something definitely wasn’t right. However right now he knew that he had to help the Brit figuring out what this was all about. And of course the most important thing of them all. Finding his Romano.

“Yes he is,” Antonio said nodding, but then he remembered that England wasn’t even looking at him and stopped.

“Even though our words are different, all big events like for example wars ends the same way. For some reason our worlds are connected like that. If the Italy from our world is under the Austrian rule…this one is too,” England informed while taking a step towards Luciano, who at the same time quickly backed away from him. It was clear that he had no idea, what the Brit was talking about. Not that Antonio could blame him. He had a hard time keeping track on it all as well.

“Lead us to Austria’s house,” England demanded as he took another small step towards the child.

For the first time since they came to that weird place, Antonio actually agreed on the Brit’s actions. None of the two adults were completely sure where they were or where they were going. It would end up with the two of them just walking around in circles, and they would never find Romano like that. This child however seemed to know exactly where he was heading. They needed his help to get out of the nothingness and back to some real civilisation. Although Antonio had a feeling that it wouldn’t be that easy to get any kind of help from this Luciano.

The child itself didn’t even respond, but only took a few more steps back as the Brit got closer to him. It was easy to see how thoughts were rushing through his mind, and his eyes kept on moving from England and over at some big trees, which stood a couple of meters left for the Brit. A few moments of silence went by, and Antonio started to consider if he should try to get the child to help them as well – in a more gentle way than England’s however.

He did not get the chance to do this though. Before the Spaniard could as much as open his mouth, Luciano started to run past England – from the opposite side than were Antonio stood – in an attempt to get away from the two adults. His speed was incredible for a child in his age; however England had been prepared for this move ever since they first started talking to the child. He quickly let his sword smack down in the ground in front of the child as to block his way, which was something Luciano obviously had not expected. He stopped so abruptly that he could not keep the balance and ended up falling backwards down in the grass. Antonio, however had, from the corner of his eyes, spotted what England was about to do even before the Brit had brought his sword to the ground. With two quick steps, he moved closer and placed his own sword in front of the Brit’s neck. He did not care if this was not the ‘real’ Italy, that this was a child he had never seen before. Nobody was going to hurt any child as long as he could do something about it. He kept his sword placed against England’s neck even a few seconds after Luciano had fallen down in the grass.

“Don’t ever put that sword so close to him again,” he hissed to the Brit before slowly removing his own sword and taking a step back. His eyes burnt with anger. Of course, they needed the child’s help, but he simply would not tolerate that they used methods like that.

England did not look back at him, just simply putting his sword back into its scabbard in one motion. Antonio wasn’t sure if it was because the Brit regretted what he had done, or if it was just to not started any trouble. The Spaniard couldn’t help but hoping it was the first explanation though.

Antonio’s glance went over to the child, who was slowly getting up from the ground, brushing some loose grass off his dress as he did so. Though still staying on the same spot to not startle the child even more, Antonio kneeled down so he now was in the same eye level as Luciano. The child stayed in the same spot as well, waiting to see what the Spaniard was going to do. It seemed like he didn’t dare to move anymore. For now at least.

“We just really need your help,” Antonio started, talking with the calmest voice he could – not that that was hard for him. His glance quickly went up to the Brit when saying the word ‘we’, but it soon found the child’s light violet eyes again. “I have lost someone who is really dear to me, and I need to find him… before he gets hurt...” Antonio’s voice broke a bit when saying the last part of that sentence and his eyes got a sorrow look in them, however he kept on smiling slightly to show Luciano that the two adults didn’t want to harm him.

The child just looked back at him in silence, his arms were crossed and a frown had formed on his face. It seemed like he was trying to figure out what to do. If he should help or not. The boy looked up at England for a second – or more specific, the sword that hung by his side – before looking down in the ground, thinking. Antonio looked up at England as well when the child did, but he wasn’t looking at either of them. It seemed like he had given up a bit and had now let the responsibility on founding civilisation lie on the Spaniard’s shoulders. However, Antonio himself had nothing against that. He would actually much more prefer to use his own methods instead of the other’s.

Luciano sighed deeply before looking up at Antonio again. The feeling of defeat was so strong in the eyes of the child that even the Spaniard could see it. “Follow me,” he said with a low voice, as he turned around on his heel, and started to walk back the way he had come from.

Antonio got up from the ground, as the child turned around, and sent England a short smile. The Brit looked back at him and nodded a single time, before he started to follow the little Italian boy. Antonio followed as well, happy that they now finally were making some progress. For every step he took, he hoped that they were bringing him closer to finding Romano.   

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: This fanficion is officially not going to be finished. I'm sad to say that I have completely lost the motivation for this project and after months and months of trying to get it back, I have to realise that it won't happen. I'm very sorry.


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